The Top 5 X-Men Games
Thanks to the excellent X-Men ’97, the X-Men are having a moment again. Even the most recent episode had callbacks to one of their most popular video game entries, so it seems like an ideal time to list the best games starring Marvel’s mightiest mutants. These will be games that are focused on the X-Men specifically so no crossovers or games where they are part of the cast but not the focus. So without further ado:
#5. X-Men: The Arcade Game
The first really enjoyable X-Men game is still a fun time today, but it shows a little bit of its limits being designed as a quarter-munching arcade game and doesn’t completely hold up against modern beat-em-ups that were inspired by it. It doesn’t help that the only way to play this game these days is if you were fortunate enough to purchase it for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 during the short time it was available on those platforms and still own those consoles or buy the 1Up arcade replica for hundreds of dollars. If you have the means and want to play an X-Men game that most closely exemplifies the spirit of X-Men ’97 though, X-Men: The Arcade Game is easily the best choice.
#4. X-Men
For Sega Genesis owners in the 90s, this was THE X-Men game. And I think it remains a solid game with cool sprites and pretty good representations of the characters. The biggest flaw of X-Men (and its sequel) is that it is an incredibly hard game, I’ve never beaten it. With save states on a current retro console (i.e. the Analogue Mega SG or the Polymega) that might be a more obtainable goal and while this has never been released on current consoles it’s not expensive to get on eBay and the like so if you have something that can play X-Men for the Genesis and have the itch after watching X-Men ’97 it’s an easy reccomend.
#3. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Possibly the best game ever based on an absolutely wretched movie, X-Men: Origins: Wolverine manages to be an incredibly satisfyingly violent character action game that is easily the best X-Men game in somewhat recent memory thanks to the handful of efforts since then being pretty abysmal. This isn’t grading on a curve though, X-Men Origins: Wolverine stands up there with some of the best action games of its era and is an absolute blast. It would be nice if someone besides Wolverine got a solo game now and then but he’s the breakout character of the team so it’s easy to see why he got several solo efforts.
#2. X-Men: Children of the Atom
Simply put, without X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel vs. Capcom would’ve never been a thing. It’s the progenitor, the building blocks of what would become one of the most popular fighting series of all time are all in this game and the original still holds up as an incredibly solid experience. Honestly, some might prefer the simplicity of Children of the Atom since the crossover sequels get pretty complicated and crazy as the series goes on. A great start to a great franchise I hope to see come back someday (and Infinite wasn’t that bad guys, it just wasn’t what you wanted).
#1. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse
The end-all-be-all for X-Men nerds. X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is steeped in easter eggs, obscure characters and knowledge of the franchise and is easily the best representation of Marvel’s premiere mutants to date (and also led to the excellent Marvel Ultimate Alliance games). But that wouldn’t mean squat without a really great game to anchor it all and X-Men Legends II is an incredibly solid action RPG with a cool story any comic fan can get behind and enjoy. If you are looking for the best X-Men experience in a video game, nothing has topped X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
That’s it for today, not completely sure when I’ll get another blog entry up but it should be within the next week or so as I have a couple of ideas in the hopper, so see ya real soon!
